Methods, wireless communications networks and infrastructure equipment

ABSTRACT

A method of controlling communications within a wireless communications network is provided. The method comprises in advance of transmitting the data by a child node to a donor node, configuring, by one of the donor node and a parent node, a Buffer Status Report, general BSR timer for the child node, the general BSR timer being common and synchronised among at least a subset of a plurality of infrastructure equipment, receiving, at the parent node, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a signal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the parent node, and scheduling, by the parent node, in accordance with the BSR received from the child node, communications resources of the backhaul communications link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit the uplink data.

BACKGROUND Field of Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to methods and apparatus for thecommunication of signals between various infrastructure equipment,communications devices and the core network on a wireless backhaulcommunications link in a wireless communications system.

The present application claims the Paris Convention priority of EuropeanPatent Application no. EP18197358, the contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

Description of Related Art

The “background” description provided herein is for the purpose ofgenerally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of thepresently named inventors, to the extent it is described in thisbackground section, as well as aspects of the description which may nototherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neitherexpressly or impliedly admitted as prior art against the presentinvention.

Recent generation mobile telecommunication systems, such as those basedon the 3GPP defined UMTS and Long Term Evolution (LTE) architectures,are able to support a wider range of services than simple voice andmessaging services offered by previous generations of mobiletelecommunication systems. For example, with the improved radiointerface and enhanced data rates provided by LTE systems, a user isable to enjoy high data rate applications such as mobile video streamingand mobile video conferencing that would previously only have beenavailable via a fixed line data connection. In addition to supportingthese kinds of more sophisticated services and devices, it is alsoproposed for newer generation mobile telecommunication systems tosupport less complex services and devices which make use of the reliableand wide ranging coverage of newer generation mobile telecommunicationsystems without necessarily needing to rely on the high data ratesavailable in such systems. The demand to deploy such networks istherefore strong and the coverage area of these networks, i.e.geographic locations where access to the networks is possible, may beexpected to increase ever more rapidly.

Future wireless communications networks will therefore be expected toroutinely and efficiently support communications with a wider range ofdevices associated with a wider range of data traffic profiles and typesthan current systems are optimised to support. For example it isexpected future wireless communications networks will be expected toefficiently support communications with devices including reducedcomplexity devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, highresolution video displays, virtual reality headsets and so on. Some ofthese different types of devices may be deployed in very large numbers,for example low complexity devices for supporting the “The Internet ofThings”, and may typically be associated with the transmissions ofrelatively small amounts of data with relatively high latency tolerance.

In view of this there is expected to be a desire for future wirelesscommunications networks, for example those which may be referred to as5G or new radio (NR) system/new radio access technology (RAT) systems,as well as future iterations/releases of existing systems, toefficiently support connectivity for a wide range of devices associatedwith different applications and different characteristic data trafficprofiles.

As radio technologies continue to improve, for example with thedevelopment of 5G, the possibility arises for these technologies to beused not only by infrastructure equipment to provide service to wirelesscommunications devices in a cell, but also for interconnectinginfrastructure equipment to provide a wireless backhaul. In view of thisthere is a need to ensure that a donor infrastructure equipment that isphysically connected to the core network does not suffer from a“capacity crunch” when a large amount of data is being transmitted fromvarious communications devices and infrastructure equipment to the corenetwork via the donor infrastructure equipment.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure can help address or mitigate at least some of theissues discussed above as defined in the appended claims.

A first embodiment of the present technique can provide a method ofcontrolling communications within a wireless communications network. Thewireless communications network comprises a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link.The method comprises transmitting, to a first of the infrastructureequipment acting as a donor node connected to a core network part of thewireless communications network, data by a second of the infrastructureequipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment actingas relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child nodeand one of the one or more other infrastructure equipment acting as therelay nodes or the donor node being a parent node to which the childnode is attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplinkcommunications resources to the child node, wherein the methodcomprises, in advance of the transmitting the data by the child node tothe donor node, configuring, by one of the parent node or the donornode, a general Buffer Status Report BSR timer for the child node, thegeneral BSR timer being common and synchronised among at least a subsetof the plurality of infrastructure equipment, receiving, at the parentnode, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a signal comprisinga BSR from the child node indicating an amount of uplink data that thechild node has ready to transmit to the parent node, and scheduling, bythe parent node, in accordance with the BSR received from the childnode, communications resources of the backhaul communications link tothe child node in which the child node is to transmit the uplink data.

A second embodiment of the present technique can provide a method ofcontrolling communications within a wireless communications network. Thewireless communications network comprises a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link.The method comprises transmitting, to a first of the infrastructureequipment acting as a donor node connected to a core network part of thewireless communications network, data by a second of the infrastructureequipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment actingas relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child nodeand one of the one or more other infrastructure equipment acting as therelay nodes or the donor node being a parent node to which the childnode is attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplinkcommunications resources to the child node, wherein the methodcomprises, in advance of the transmitting the data by the child node tothe donor node, receiving, at the parent node, a signal comprising aBuffer Status Report, BSR from the child node indicating an amount ofuplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the parentnode, and scheduling, by the parent node, in accordance with the BSRreceived from the child node, communications resources of the backhaulcommunications link to the child node in which the child node is totransmit the uplink data, wherein the signal comprising the BSRadditionally comprises assistance information for the parent node, andthe parent node schedules the communications resources to the child nodein accordance with the BSR and the assistance information.

A third embodiment of the present technique can provide a method ofcontrolling communications within a wireless communications network. Thewireless communications network comprises a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link.The method comprises transmitting, to a first of the infrastructureequipment acting as a donor node connected to a core network part of thewireless communications network, data by a second of the infrastructureequipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment actingas relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child nodeand one of the one or more other infrastructure equipment acting as therelay nodes or the donor node being a parent node to which the childnode is attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplinkcommunications resources to the child node, wherein the methodcomprises, in advance of the transmitting the data by the child node tothe donor node, receiving, at the parent node, a signal comprising aBuffer Status Report, BSR from the child node indicating an amount ofuplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the parentnode, and scheduling, by the parent node, in accordance with the BSRreceived from the child node, communications resources of the backhaulcommunications link to the child node in which the child node is totransmit the uplink data, wherein a buffer size value included withinthe BSR which indicates the amount of uplink data that the child nodehas ready to transmit to the parent node is inflated to a higher levelthan the real buffer size value of the child node.

A fourth embodiment of the present technique can provide a method ofcontrolling communications within a wireless communications network. Thewireless communications network comprises a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link.The method comprises transmitting, to a first of the infrastructureequipment acting as a donor node connected to a core network part of thewireless communications network, data by a second of the infrastructureequipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment actingas relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child nodeand one of the one or more other infrastructure equipment acting as therelay nodes or the donor node being a parent node to which the childnode is attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplinkcommunications resources to the child node, wherein the methodcomprises, in advance of the transmitting the data by the child node tothe donor node, transmitting, by the parent node, a signalling messagecomprising an indication at least some of the plurality ofinfrastructure equipment should transmit a Buffer Status Report, BSR,receiving, at the parent node, subsequent to the signalling messagebeing received by the child node, a signal comprising a BSR from thechild node indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node hasready to transmit to the parent node, and scheduling, by the parentnode, in accordance with the BSR received from the child node,communications resources of the backhaul communications link to thechild node in which the child node is to transmit the uplink data.

A fifth embodiment of the present technique can provide a method ofcontrolling communications within a wireless communications network. Thewireless communications network comprises a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link.The method comprises transmitting, to a first of the infrastructureequipment acting as a donor node connected to a core network part of thewireless communications network, data by a second of the infrastructureequipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment actingas relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child nodeand one of the one or more other infrastructure equipment acting as therelay nodes or the donor node being a parent node to which the childnode is attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplinkcommunications resources to the child node, wherein the methodcomprises, in advance of the transmitting the data by the child node tothe donor node, receiving, at the parent node, a signal comprising aBuffer Status Report, BSR from the child node indicating an amount ofuplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the parentnode, scheduling, by the parent node, in accordance with the BSRreceived from the child node, communications resources of the backhaulcommunications link to the child node in which the child node is totransmit the uplink data, and transmitting, by each of one or more ofthe infrastructure equipment, based on a received pre-BSR report maskingparameter, a pre-BSR to their parent nodes subsequent to receiving a BSRfrom their child nodes, the pre-BSR comprising an indication of a sum ofan amount of uplink data the each of the one or more of theinfrastructure equipment currently has to transmit and an amount ofuplink data reported by its child nodes and/or one or morecommunications devices served by it

Respective aspects and features of the present disclosure are defined inthe appended claims.

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary, but are notrestrictive, of the present technology. The described embodiments,together with further advantages, will be best understood by referenceto the following detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete appreciation of the disclosure and many of the attendantadvantages thereof will be readily obtained as the same becomes betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description whenconsidered in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein likereference numerals designate identical or corresponding parts throughoutthe several views, and wherein:

FIG. 1 schematically represents some aspects of a LTE-type wirelesstelecommunication system which may be configured to operate inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 schematically represents some aspects of a new radio accesstechnology (RAT) wireless communications system which may be configuredto operate in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 3 is a schematic block diagram of some components of the wirelesscommunications system shown in FIG. 2 in more detail in order toillustrate example embodiments of the present technique;

FIG. 4 schematically represents some aspects of an example wirelesstelecommunication network which may be configured to operate inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is reproduced from [3], and provides a first example of anIntegrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) deployment scenario;

FIG. 6A is reproduced from [5], and provides a second example of an IABdeployment scenario in which there are multiple candidate routes eachcomprising multiple hops from the end node to the donor node;

FIG. 6B is an extended version of FIG. 6A, providing a third example ofan IAB deployment scenario in which there are multiple candidate routeseach comprising multiple hops from the end node to the donor node;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a first possible networkarchitecture for providing a wireless backhaul by means of IAB in awireless telecommunication network which may be configured to operate inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram illustrating a second possible networkarchitecture for providing a wireless backhaul by means of IAB in awireless telecommunication network which may be configured to operate inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram illustrating a third possible networkarchitecture for providing a wireless backhaul by means of IAB in awireless telecommunication network which may be configured to operate inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 is reproduced from [7],and illustrates a first example ofcascade scheduling in IAB;

FIG. 11 is reproduced from [7], and illustrates a second example ofcascade scheduling in IAB;

FIG. 12 shows a part schematic, part message flow diagram ofcommunications in a wireless communications system in accordance withembodiments of the present technique; and

FIG. 13 shows a flow diagram illustrating a process of communications ina communications system in accordance with embodiments of the presenttechnique.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

Long Term Evolution (LTE) Wireless Communications System

FIG. 1 provides a schematic diagram illustrating some basicfunctionality of a mobile telecommunications network/system 6 operatinggenerally in accordance with LTE principles, but which may also supportother radio access technologies, and which may be adapted to implementembodiments of the disclosure as described herein. Various elements ofFIG. 1 and certain aspects of their respective modes of operation arewell-known and defined in the relevant standards administered by the3GPP (RTM) body, and also described in many books on the subject, forexample, Holma H. and Toskala A [1]. It will be appreciated thatoperational aspects of the telecommunications networks discussed hereinwhich are not specifically described (for example in relation tospecific communication protocols and physical channels for communicatingbetween different elements) may be implemented in accordance with anyknown techniques, for example according to the relevant standards andknown proposed modifications and additions to the relevant standards.

The network 6 includes a plurality of base stations 1 connected to acore network 2. Each base station provides a coverage area 3 (i.e. acell) within which data can be communicated to and from communicationsdevices 4.

Although each base station 1 is shown in FIG. 1 as a single entity, theskilled person will appreciate that some of the functions of the basestation may be carried out by disparate, inter-connected elements, suchas antennas (or antennae), remote radio heads, amplifiers, etc.Collectively, one or more base stations may form a radio access network.

Data is transmitted from base stations 1 to communications devices 4within their respective coverage areas 3 via a radio downlink. Data istransmitted from communications devices 4 to the base stations 1 via aradio uplink. The core network 2 routes data to and from thecommunications devices 4 via the respective base stations 1 and providesfunctions such as authentication, mobility management, charging and soon. Terminal devices may also be referred to as mobile stations, userequipment (UE), user terminal, mobile radio, communications device, andso forth.

Services provided by the core network 2 may include connectivity to theinternet or to external telephony services. The core network 2 mayfurther track the location of the communications devices 4 so that itcan efficiently contact (i.e. page) the communications devices 4 fortransmitting downlink data towards the communications devices 4.

Base stations, which are an example of network infrastructure equipment,may also be referred to as transceiver stations, nodeBs, e-nodeBs, eNB,g-nodeBs, gNB and so forth. In this regard different terminology isoften associated with different generations of wirelesstelecommunications systems for elements providing broadly comparablefunctionality. However, certain embodiments of the disclosure may beequally implemented in different generations of wirelesstelecommunications systems, and for simplicity certain terminology maybe used regardless of the underlying network architecture. That is tosay, the use of a specific term in relation to certain exampleimplementations is not intended to indicate these implementations arelimited to a certain generation of network that may be most associatedwith that particular terminology.

New Radio Access Technology (5G) Wireless Communications System

An example configuration of a wireless communications network which usessome of the terminology proposed for NR and 5G is shown in FIG. 2. A3GPP Study Item (SI) on New Radio Access Technology (NR) has beendefined [2]. In FIG. 2 a plurality of transmission and reception points(TRPs) 10 are connected to distributed control units (DUs) 41, 42 by aconnection interface represented as a line 16. Each of the TRPs 10 isarranged to transmit and receive signals via a wireless access interfacewithin a radio frequency bandwidth available to the wirelesscommunications network. Thus within a range for performing radiocommunications via the wireless access interface, each of the TRPs 10,forms a cell of the wireless communications network as represented by acircle 12. As such, wireless communications devices 14 which are withina radio communications range provided by the cells 12 can transmit andreceive signals to and from the TRPs 10 via the wireless accessinterface. Each of the distributed units 41, 42 are connected to acentral unit (CU) 40 (which may be referred to as a controlling node)via an interface 46. The central unit 40 is then connected to the a corenetwork 20 which may contain all other functions required to transmitdata for communicating to and from the wireless communications devicesand the core network 20 may be connected to other networks 30.

The elements of the wireless access network shown in FIG. 2 may operatein a similar way to corresponding elements of an LTE network asdescribed with regard to the example of FIG. 1. It will be appreciatedthat operational aspects of the telecommunications network representedin FIG. 2, and of other networks discussed herein in accordance withembodiments of the disclosure, which are not specifically described (forexample in relation to specific communication protocols and physicalchannels for communicating between different elements) may beimplemented in accordance with any known techniques, for exampleaccording to currently used approaches for implementing such operationalaspects of wireless telecommunications systems, e.g. in accordance withthe relevant standards.

The TRPs 10 of FIG. 2 may in part have a corresponding functionality toa base station or eNodeB of an LTE network. Similarly the communicationsdevices 14 may have a functionality corresponding to the UE devices 4known for operation with an LTE network. It will be appreciatedtherefore that operational aspects of a new RAT network (for example inrelation to specific communication protocols and physical channels forcommunicating between different elements) may be different to thoseknown from LTE or other known mobile telecommunications standards.However, it will also be appreciated that each of the core networkcomponent, base stations and communications devices of a new RAT networkwill be functionally similar to, respectively, the core networkcomponent, base stations and communications devices of an LTE wirelesscommunications network.

In terms of broad top-level functionality, the core network 20 connectedto the new RAT telecommunications system represented in FIG. 2 may bebroadly considered to correspond with the core network 2 represented inFIG. 1, and the respective central units 40 and their associateddistributed units/TRPs 10 may be broadly considered to providefunctionality corresponding to the base stations 1 of FIG. 1. The termnetwork infrastructure equipment/access node may be used to encompassthese elements and more conventional base station type elements ofwireless telecommunications systems. Depending on the application athand the responsibility for scheduling transmissions which are scheduledon the radio interface between the respective distributed units and thecommunications devices may lie with the controlling node/central unitand/or the distributed units/TRPs. A communications device 14 isrepresented in FIG. 2 within the coverage area of the firstcommunication cell 12. This communications device 14 may thus exchangesignalling with the first central unit 40 in the first communicationcell 212 via one of the distributed units 10 associated with the firstcommunication cell 12.

It will further be appreciated that FIG. 2 represents merely one exampleof a proposed architecture for a new RAT based telecommunications systemin which approaches in accordance with the principles described hereinmay be adopted, and the functionality disclosed herein may also beapplied in respect of wireless telecommunications systems havingdifferent architectures.

Thus certain embodiments of the disclosure as discussed herein may beimplemented in wireless telecommunication systems/networks according tovarious different architectures, such as the example architectures shownin FIGS. 1 and 2. It will thus be appreciated the specific wirelesstelecommunications architecture in any given implementation is not ofprimary significance to the principles described herein. In this regard,certain embodiments of the disclosure may be described generally in thecontext of communications between network infrastructureequipment/access nodes and a communications device, wherein the specificnature of the network infrastructure equipment/access node and thecommunications device will depend on the network infrastructure for theimplementation at hand. For example, in some scenarios the networkinfrastructure equipment/access node may comprise a base station, suchas an LTE-type base station 1 as shown in FIG. 1 which is adapted toprovide functionality in accordance with the principles describedherein, and in other examples the network infrastructure equipment maycomprise a control unit/controlling node 40 and/or a TRP 10 of the kindshown in FIG. 2 which is adapted to provide functionality in accordancewith the principles described herein.

A more detailed diagram of some of the components of the network shownin FIG. 2 is provided by FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, a TRP 10 as shown in FIG. 2comprises, as a simplified representation, a wireless transmitter 30, awireless receiver 32 and a controller or controlling processor 34 whichmay operate to control the transmitter 30 and the wireless receiver 32to transmit and receive radio signals to one or more UEs 14 within acell 12 formed by the TRP 10. As shown in FIG. 3, an example UE 14 isshown to include a corresponding transmitter 49, a receiver 48 and acontroller 44 which is configured to control the transmitter 49 and thereceiver 48 to transmit signals representing uplink data to the wirelesscommunications network via the wireless access interface formed by theTRP 10 and to receive downlink data as signals transmitted by thetransmitter 30 and received by the receiver 48 in accordance with theconventional operation.

The transmitters 30, 49 and the receivers 32, 48 (as well as othertransmitters, receivers and transceivers described in relation toexamples and embodiments of the present disclosure) may include radiofrequency filters and amplifiers as well as signal processing componentsand devices in order to transmit and receive radio signals in accordancefor example with the 5G/NR standard. The controllers 34, 44, 48 (as wellas other controllers described in relation to examples and embodimentsof the present disclosure) may be, for example, a microprocessor, a CPU,or a dedicated chipset, etc., configured to carry out instructions whichare stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-volatile memory.The processing steps described herein may be carried out by, forexample, a microprocessor in conjunction with a random access memory,operating according to instructions stored on a computer readablemedium.

As shown in FIG. 3, the TRP 10 also includes a network interface 50which connects to the DU 42 via a physical interface 16. The networkinterface 50 therefore provides a communication link for data andsignalling traffic from the TRP 10 via the DU 42 and the CU 40 to thecore network 20.

The interface 46 between the DU 42 and the CU 40 is known as the F1interface which can be a physical or a logical interface. The F1interface 46 between CU and DU may operate in accordance withspecifications 3GPP TS 38.470 and 3GPP TS 38.473, and may be formed froma fibre optic or other wired high bandwidth connection. In one examplethe connection 16 from the TRP 10 to the DU 42 is via fibre optic. Theconnection between a TRP 10 and the core network 20 can be generallyreferred to as a backhaul, which comprises the interface 16 from thenetwork interface 50 of the TRP10 to the DU 42 and the F1 interface 46from the DU 42 to the CU 40.

Example arrangements of the present technique can be formed from awireless communications network corresponding to that shown in FIG. 1 or2, as shown in FIG. 4. FIG. 4 provides an example in which cells of awireless communications network are formed from infrastructure equipmentwhich are provided with an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB)capability. The wireless communications network 100 comprises the corenetwork 20 and a first, a second, a third and a fourth communicationsdevice (respectively 101, 102, 103 and 104) which may broadly correspondto the communications devices 4, 14 described above.

The wireless communications network 100 comprises a radio accessnetwork, comprising a first infrastructure equipment 110, a secondinfrastructure equipment 111, a third infrastructure equipment 112, anda fourth infrastructure equipment 113. Each of the infrastructureequipment provides a coverage area (i.e. a cell, not shown in FIG. 4)within which data can be communicated to and from the communicationsdevices 101 to 104. For example, the fourth infrastructure equipment 113provides a cell in which the third and fourth communications devices 103and 104 may obtain service. Data is transmitted from the fourthinfrastructure equipment 113 to the fourth communications device 104within its respective coverage area (not shown) via a radio downlink.Data is transmitted from the fourth communications device 104 to thefourth infrastructure equipment 113 via a radio uplink.

The infrastructure equipment 110 to 113 in FIG. 4 may correspond broadlyto the TRPs 10 of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.

The first infrastructure equipment 110 in FIG. 4 is connected to thecore network 20 by means of one or a series of physical connections. Thefirst infrastructure equipment 110 may comprise the TRP 10 (having thephysical connection 16 to the DU 42) in combination with the DU 42(having a physical connection to the CU 40 by means of the F1 interface46) and the CU 40 (being connected by means of a physical connection tothe core network 20).

However, there is no direct physical connection between any of thesecond infrastructure equipment 111, the third infrastructure equipment112, and the fourth infrastructure equipment 113 and the core network20. As such, it may be necessary (or, otherwise determined to beappropriate) for data received from a communications device (i.e. uplinkdata), or data for transmission to a communications device (i.e.downlink data) to be transmitted to or from the core network 20 viaother infrastructure equipment (such as the first infrastructureequipment 110) which has a physical connection to the core network 20,even if the communications device is not currently served by the firstinfrastructure equipment 110 but is, for example, in the case of thewireless communications device 104, served by the fourth infrastructureequipment 113.

The second, third and fourth infrastructure equipment 111 to 113 in FIG.4 may each comprise a TRP, broadly similar in functionality to the TRPs10 of FIG. 2.

In some arrangements of the present technique, one or more of the secondto fourth infrastructure equipment 111 to 113 in FIG. 4 may furthercomprise a DU 42, and in some arrangements of the present technique, oneor more of the second to fourth infrastructure equipment 110 to 113 maycomprise a DU and a CU.

In some arrangements of the present technique, the CU 40 associated withthe first infrastructure equipment 110 may perform the function of a CUnot only in respect of the first infrastructure equipment 110, but alsoin respect of one or more of the second, the third and the fourthinfrastructure equipment 111 to 113.

In order to provide the transmission of the uplink data or the downlinkdata between a communications device and the core network, a route isdetermined by any suitable means, with one end of the route being aninfrastructure equipment physically connected to a core network and bywhich uplink and downlink traffic is routed to or from the core network.

In the following, the term ‘node’ is used to refer to an entity orinfrastructure equipment which forms a part of a route for thetransmission of the uplink data or the downlink data.

An infrastructure equipment which is physically connected to the corenetwork and operated in accordance with an example arrangement mayprovide communications resources to other infrastructure equipment andso is referred to as a ‘donor node’. An infrastructure equipment whichacts as an intermediate node (i.e. one which forms a part of the routebut is not acting as a donor node) is referred to as a ‘relay node’. Itshould be noted that although such intermediate node infrastructureequipment act as relay nodes on the backhaul link, they may also provideservice to communications devices. The relay node at the end of theroute which is the infrastructure equipment controlling the cell inwhich the communications device is obtaining service is referred to asan ‘end node’.

In the wireless network illustrated in FIG. 4, each of the first tofourth infrastructure equipment 110 to 113 may therefore function asnodes. For example, a route for the transmission of uplink data from thefourth communications device 104 may consist of the fourthinfrastructure equipment 113 (acting as the end node), the thirdinfrastructure equipment 112 (acting as a relay node), and the firstinfrastructure equipment 110 (acting as the donor node). The firstinfrastructure 110, being connected to the core network 20, transmitsthe uplink data to the core network 20.

For clarity and conciseness in the following description, the firstinfrastructure equipment 110 is referred to below as the ‘donor node’,the second infrastructure equipment 111 is referred to below as ‘Node1’, the third infrastructure equipment 112 is referred to below as ‘Node2’ and the fourth infrastructure equipment 113 is referred to below as‘Node 3’.

For the purposes of the present disclosure, the term ‘upstream node’ isused to refer to a node acting as a relay node or a donor node in aroute, which is a next hop when used for the transmission of data viathat route from a wireless communications device to a core network.Similarly, ‘downstream node’ is used to refer to a relay node from whichuplink data is received for transmission to a core network. For example,if uplink data is transmitted via a route comprising (in order) the Node3 113, the Node 1 111 and the donor node 110, then the donor node 110 isan upstream node with respect to the Node 1 111, and the Node 3 113 is adownstream node with respect to the Node 1 111.

More than one route may be used for the transmission of theuplink/downlink data from/to a given communications device; this isreferred to herein as ‘multi-connectivity’. For example, the uplink datatransmitted by the wireless communications device 104 may be transmittedeither via the Node 3 113 and the Node 2 112 to the donor node 110, orvia the Node 3 113 and the Node 1 111 to the donor node 110.

In the following description, example arrangements are described inwhich each of the nodes is an infrastructure equipment; the presentdisclosure is not so limited. A node may comprise at least atransmitter, a receiver and a controller. In some arrangements of thepresent technique, the functionality of a node (other than the donornode) may be carried out by a communications device, which may be thecommunications device 4 (of FIG. 1) or 14 (of FIG. 2), adaptedaccordingly. As such, in some arrangements of the present technique, aroute may comprise one or more communications devices. In otherarrangements, a route may consist of only a plurality of infrastructureequipment.

In some arrangements of the present technique, an infrastructureequipment acting as a node may not provide a wireless access interfacefor the transmission of data to or by a communications device other thanas part of an intermediate transmission along a route.

In some arrangements of the present technique, a route is definedconsidering a wireless communications device (such as the wirelesscommunications device 104) as the start of a route. In otherarrangements a route is considered to start at an infrastructureequipment which provides a wireless access interface for thetransmission of the uplink data by a wireless communications device.

Each of the first infrastructure equipment acting as the donor node 110and the second to fourth infrastructure equipment acting as the Nodes1-3 111-113 may communicate with one or more other nodes by means of aninter-node wireless communications link, which may also be referred toas a wireless backhaul communications links. For example, FIG. 4illustrates four inter-node wireless communications links 130, 132, 134,136.

Each of the inter-node wireless communications links 130, 132, 134, 136may be provided by means of a respective wireless access interface.Alternatively, two or more of the inter-node wireless communicationslinks 130, 132, 134, 136 may be provided by means of a common wirelessaccess interface and in particular, in some arrangements of the presenttechnique, all of the inter-node wireless communications links 130, 132,134, 136 are provided by a shared wireless access interface.

A wireless access interface which provides an inter-node wirelesscommunications link may also be used for communications between aninfrastructure equipment (which may be a node) and a communicationsdevice which is served by the infrastructure equipment. For example, thefourth wireless communications device 104 may communicate with theinfrastructure equipment Node 3 113 using the wireless access interfacewhich provides the inter-node wireless communications link 134connecting the Node 3 113 and the Node 2 112.

The wireless access interface(s) providing the inter-node wirelesscommunications links 130, 132, 134, 136 may operate according to anyappropriate specifications and techniques. In some arrangements of thepresent technique, a wireless access interface used for the transmissionof data from one node to another uses a first technique and a wirelessaccess interface used for the transmission of data between aninfrastructure equipment acting as a node and a communications devicemay use a second technique different from the first. In somearrangements of the present technique, the wireless access interface(s)used for the transmission of data from one node to another and thewireless access interface(s) used for the transmission of data betweenan infrastructure equipment and a communications device use the sametechnique.

Examples of wireless access interface standards include the thirdgeneration partnership project (3GPP)-specified GPRS/EDGE (“2G”), WCDMA(UMTS) and related standards such as HSPA and HSPA+ (“3G”), LTE andrelated standards including LTE-A (“4G”), and NR (“5G”). Techniques thatmay be used to provide a wireless access interface include one or moreof TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, CDMA. Duplexing (i.e. the transmissionover a wireless link in two directions) may be by means of frequencydivision duplexing (FDD) or time division duplexing (TDD) or acombination of both.

In some arrangements of the present technique, two or more of theinter-node wireless communications links 130, 132, 134, 136 may sharecommunications resources. This may be because two or more of theinter-node wireless communications links 130, 132, 134, 136 are providedby means of a single wireless access interface or because two or more ofthe inter-node wireless communications links 130, 132, 134, 136nevertheless operate simultaneously using a common range of frequencies.

The nature of the inter-node wireless communications links 130, 132,134, 136 may depend on the architecture by which the wireless backhaulfunctionality is achieved.

Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) for NR

A new study item on Integrated Access and Backhaul for NR [3] has beenapproved. Several requirements and aspects for the integrated access andwireless backhaul for NR to address are discussed in [3], which include:

-   -   Efficient and flexible operation for both inband and outband        relaying in indoor and outdoor scenarios;    -   Multi-hop and redundant connectivity;    -   End-to-end route selection and optimisation;    -   Support of backhaul links with high spectral efficiency;    -   Support of legacy NR UEs.

The stated objective of the study detailed in [3] is to identify andevaluate potential solutions for topology management forsingle-hop/multi-hop and redundant connectivity, route selection andoptimisation, dynamic resource allocation between the backhaul andaccess links, and achieving high spectral efficiency while alsosupporting reliable transmission.

FIG. 5 shows the scenario presented in [3], where a backhaul link isprovided from cell site A 501 to cells B 502 and C 504 over the air. Itis assumed that cells B 502 and C 504 have no wired backhaulconnectivity. Considering the CU/DU split architecture in NR asdescribed above, it can be assumed that all of cells A 501, B 502 and C504 have a dedicated DU unit and are controlled by the same CU.

Several architecture requirements for IAB are laid out in [4]. Theseinclude the support for multiple backhaul hops, that topology adaptationfor physically fixed relays shall be supported to enable robustoperation, minimisation of impact to core network specifications,consideration of impact to core networking signalling load, and Release15 NR specifications should be reused as much as possible in the designof the backhaul link, with enhancements considered.

FIG. 6A is reproduced from [5], and shows an example of a wirelesscommunications system comprising a plurality of IAB-enabled nodes, whichmay for example be TRPs forming part of an NR network. These comprise anIAB donor node 601 which has a connection to the core network, two IABnodes (a first IAB node 602 and a second IAB node 604) which havebackhaul connections to the IAB donor node 601, and a third IAB node 606(or end IAB node) which has a backhaul connection to each of the firstIAB node 602 and the second IAB node 604. Each of the first IAB node 601and third IAB node 606 have wireless access connections to UEs 608 and610 respectively. As shown in FIG. 6A, originally the third IAB node 606may communicate with the IAB donor node 601 via the first IAB node 602.After the second IAB node 604 emerges, there are now two candidateroutes from the third IAB node 606 to the IAB donor node 601; via thefirst IAB node 602 and via the new second IAB node 604. The newcandidate route via the second IAB node 604 will play an important rolewhen there is a blockage in the first IAB node 602 to IAB donor node 604link. Hence, knowing how to manage the candidate routes efficiently andeffectively is important to ensure timely data transmission betweenrelay nodes, especially when considering the characteristics of wirelesslinks.

In the case that the link between the first IAB node 602 and the thirdIAB node 606 is deteriorating, or the first IAB node 602 becomesoverloaded, one of the nodes in the system (this could be the donor node601 or the first IAB node 602 itself) will need to make a decision tochange the route from the third IAB node 606 to the IAB donor node 601from that via the first IAB node 602 to that via the second IAB node604.

In FIG. 6A, only the IAB Donor gNB 601 has a fixed line backhaul intothe core network. It should be assumed in this case that the trafficfrom all the UEs 610 within the third IAB node's 606 coverage isbackhauled firstly to the first IAB node 602. This backhaul link mustcompete for capacity on the component carrier serving the first IAB Node602 with all the UEs 608 within the coverage area of the first IAB Node602. In the relevant art, the first IAB Node 602 in such a system asthat of FIG. 6A is called a “hop”—it relays communications between theend (third) IAB node 606 and the donor IAB node 601. The backhaul linkto the first IAB Node 602 requires enough capacity to support thetraffic from all the UEs 610, bearing in mind that some of these mayhave stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements that translate intohigh traffic intensities.

FIG. 6B is an extended version of FIG. 6A, and shows what happens whenthere are multiple layers of IAB nodes in the deployment scenario. Inthe example of FIG. 6A, the third IAB node 606 is the child node of thefirst IAB node 602, and the first IAB node 602 may be the parent node ofthe third IAB node 606. However, a parent node may not necessarily bethe next node up (i.e. one hop in the uplink direction) towards the IABdonor node 601. A parent node may be more than one hop away from itschild node or children nodes, and is in a general sense configured toallocate uplink communications resources to the child node. For example,the donor IAB node 601 may in fact be the parent node of the third IABnode 606. This is shown with greater clarity in FIG. 6B.

In FIG. 6B, in addition to IAB node 601, 602, 604 and 606 as shown inFIG. 6A, there are additional IAB nodes 612 and 614 at the same layer orlevel of the network as IAB node 606. Below these are IAB nodes 616,618, 620 and 622, which are now end nodes, in that they have no downlinkbackhaul connections to other IAB nodes. Here, it could be that thefirst IAB node 602 is still the parent of the third IAB node 606, butmay also be the parent of IAB node 612. Further, the first IAB node 602may be the parent of IAB nodes 616, 618 and 620 too, or may be agrandparent node to these nodes if nodes 606 and 612 are their parents.

Various architectures have been proposed in order to provide the IABfunctionality. The below described embodiments of the present techniqueare not restricted to a particular architecture. However, a number ofcandidate architectures which have been considered in, for example, 3GPPdocument [6] are described below.

FIG. 7 illustrates one possible architecture, sometimes referred to as“Architecture 1 a”, by which the donor Node 110, the Node 1 111 and theNode 3 113 may provide a wireless backhaul to provide connectivity forthe UEs 104, 101, 14.

In FIG. 7, each of the infrastructure equipment acting as an IAB nodes111, 113 and the donor node 110, includes a distributed unit (DU) 42,711, 731 which communicates with the UEs 14, 101, 104 and (in the caseof the DUs 42, 511 associated with the donor node 110 and the Node 1111) with the respective downstream IAB nodes 111, 113. Each of the IABnodes 111, 113 (not including the donor node 110) includes a mobileterminal (MT) 712, 732, which includes a transmitter and receiver (notshown) for transmitting and receiving data to and from the DU of anupstream IAB node and an associated controller (not shown). Theinter-node wireless communications links 130, 136 may be in the form ofnew radio (NR) “Uu” wireless interface. The mobile terminals 712, 732may have substantially the same functionality as a UE, at least at theaccess stratum (AS) layer. Notably, however, an MT may not have anassociated subscriber identity module (SIM) application; a UE may beconventionally considered to be the combination of an MT and a SIMapplication.

The Uu wireless interfaces used by IAB nodes to communicate with eachother may also be used by UEs to transmit and receive data to and fromthe DU of the upstream IAB node. For example, the Uu interface 720 whichis used by the Node 1 111 for communication with the donor node 110 mayalso be used by the UE 14 to transmit and receive data to and from thedonor node 110.

Similarly, an end node (such as the Node 3 113) may provide a Uuwireless interface 722 for the fourth UE 104 to communicate with the DU731 of the Node 3 113.

Alternative candidate architectures for the provision of IAB areprovided in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, sometimes referred to as “Architectures 2a and 2 b” respectively. In both FIG. 8 and FIG. 9, each IAB nodeincludes a gNB function, providing a wireless access interface for theuse of downstream IAB nodes and wireless communications devices.

FIG. 9 differs from FIG. 7 in that, in FIG. 7, Protocol Data Unit (PDU)sessions are connected end-on-end to form the wireless backhaul; in FIG.9, PDU sessions are encapsulated so that each IAB node may establish anend-to-end PDU session which terminates at the IAB donor node 110.

The manner in which resources are scheduled between IAB nodes can have abig impact on the efficiency of IAB networks. One example of a knownscheduling technique is cascade scheduling, in which an IAB node will beallocated an uplink grant from its upstream IAB node after receivingdata from its downstream IAB node(s). Clearly, this has advantages interms of resource saving, as the upstream node knows how much data itneeds to send on the uplink. However, as is indicated in [7], andillustrated in FIG. 10, cascade scheduling provides a significantdisadvantage in that it increases the end-to-end data transmissiondelay. This is because the nodes at each hop level must wait to receivedata from their downstream node(s) before sending a Buffer Status Report(BSR) to their upstream node, which will then allocate them resources onthat basis, and only then can the nodes transmit that data received fromtheir downstream nodes onwards. This situation will cause the end-to-enddata transmission delay and network efficiency to deteriorate evenfurther as the number of hops from end node to donor node increase.

In [7], it is proposed that an IAB node can trigger a BSR when the IABnode schedules resources for its child node, and sends a BSR to itsparent node by only considering the amount of data it has itselfscheduled instead of the amount of data reported from the child nodes intheir BSRs. However, it can be envisaged that this proposed techniquemay result in a waste of uplink resources in a case, demonstrated inFIG. 11, where a parent node allocates an uplink grant to anintermediate node, where the uplink grant is before the data from thechild node of this intermediate node arrives at the intermediate node.Clearly then, such an uplink grant allocated by the parent node to theintermediate node will be wasted (e.g. may be skipped or padded), andanother BSR may need to be triggered upon the arrival of data. In orderto overcome this disadvantage, the remedy measure proposed in [7] tointroduce the provision of scheduling timing information by an IAB nodeto its parent node when sending a BSR, will increase the signallingoverhead as well as coordination complexity.

In [8], it is proposed that an IAB node will trigger a BSR (termed a“pre-BSR”) once a BSR is received from a downstream IAB node or a UEserved by the DU part of this IAB node. It is proposed in one examplethat the MAC CE used for standard BSRs can be reused for the pre-BSR,while the data volume is the sum of the actual amount of data the IABnode currently has and the data volume reported by its downstream IABnodes or UEs served by it. However, this proposal could also result inresource wastage, as the BSR may not necessarily indicate a data volumeequal to the data that the downstream node is going to transmit.Furthermore, this proposal also has the same problem as the solutionproposed in [7], in that signalling overhead and coordination complexitywill each be increased.

Given the vulnerable characteristics of wireless links, and consideringthe existence of multi-hops on the backhaul link, topology adaptationshould be considered in the case that blockages or congestion occur inthe backhaul link considering a given hop. Such blockages or congestion,on any nodes on a route from donor node to end node, will furtherincrease end-to-end delays. It is therefore imperative to maximise thespectral efficiency of the backhaul link in order to maximise itscapacity. Methods which seek to support route change procedures in afast and efficient manner are one direction to ease problems when, forexample, blockage or overflow occurs at some IAB nodes in the system.Embodiments of the present technique seek to provide other solutions tosuch a problem, whereby resources are scheduled by parent or upstreamnodes to their child or downlink nodes in a more efficient manner.

BSR Enhancement in IAB

FIG. 12 shows a part schematic, part message flow diagram ofcommunications in a wireless communications network 1200 in accordancewith embodiments of the present technique. The wireless communicationsnetwork 1200 comprises a plurality of infrastructure equipment 1202,1204, 1206, 1208 each being configured to communicate with one or moreothers of the infrastructure equipment 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208 via abackhaul communications link 1212, one or more of the infrastructureequipment 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208 each being configured to communicatewith one or more communications devices 1220 via an access link 1214. Asecond of the infrastructure equipment 1208 is configured to transmit1230, to a first of the infrastructure equipment 1202 acting as a donornode connected to a core network part 1201 of the wirelesscommunications network 1200, data via one or more others of theinfrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes 1206, the secondinfrastructure equipment 1208 being a child node and one of the one ormore other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes 1206 orthe donor node 1202 being a parent node to which the child node 1208 isattached, the parent node 1206 being configured to allocate uplinkcommunications resources to the child node 1208. FIG. 12 shows theinfrastructure equipment 1206 as the relaying infrastructure equipmentand the parent node, but those skilled in the art would understand thatthe infrastructure equipment 1204 (or another intermediate IAB which isnot shown) may equally be either or both of the relaying node or parentnode, or the first infrastructure equipment 1202 may be the parent node.The parent node 1206 (or the donor node 1202) is configured, in advanceof the transmitting 1230 the data by the child node 1208 to the donornode 1202, to configure 1231 a general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timerfor the child node 1208, the general BSR timer being common andsynchronised among at least a subset of the plurality of infrastructureequipment 1202, 1204, 1206, 1208. This step may then be followed by theparent node 1206 transmitting the general BSR timer to the child node1208 following its configuration. This configuration 1231 andtransmission 1232 of the general BSR timer may take place upon the childnode 1208 first attaching to the parent node 1206, or may take place ata later time designated by either of the parent node 1206 or the donornode 1202, for example. The parent node 1206 is then configured toreceive 1233, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a signalcomprising a BSR from the child node 1208 indicating an amount of uplinkdata that the child node 1208 has ready to transmit to the parent node,and to schedule 1234, in accordance with the BSR received from the childnode 1208, communications resources of the backhaul communications linkto the child node 1208 in which the child node 1208 is to transmit theuplink data. These scheduled communications resources 1234 may then beindicated to the child node 1208 in an uplink grant transmitted 1235 bythe parent node 1206 to the child node 1208.

Essentially, as described above by way of the example of FIG. 12,embodiments of the present technique introduce a synchronised periodtimer (general BSR timer) that can be configured among some or all ofthe IAB nodes in an IAB network. If this the timer expires, all of theIAB nodes with the general BSR timer configured which have uplink dataavailable for transmission will report a BSR to their respective parentnodes. Then, the parent nodes will adjust the uplink grant allocationfor their respective child nodes accordingly.

Generally, buffer status reports (BSRs) are used to provide the servinggNodeB with information about uplink data volume in the MAC entity. Theycan be triggered either by the arrival of new data, or by a timer. Inknown systems, each IAB node may be configured with an independent timer(e.g. periodicBSR-Timer), and when this timer expires, the MAC entitywill send a BSR (which may be either a Long BSR or a Short BSR)accordingly. In NR, periodicBSR-Timer is configured by the RRC layer, soin principle each node could be configured with different values.However, in the IAB scenario, having such independent timers triggeringBSRs may not be helpful in giving upstream nodes an overall picture ofits child node's buffer status as well as uplink grant allocations.Hence, there is a need—addressed by embodiments of the presenttechnique—to configure a new general timer for some or all of the IABnodes in order to trigger them to send a BSR at substantially the sametime, in order to present a global buffer status to upstream nodes.

As described above with respect to FIGS. 7 to 9, different IABarchitectures are proposed. Depending on the architecture, embodimentsof the present technique may require slightly different procedures (i.e.message flows). As described above with relation to FIG. 6B, the parentnode may be one of the intermediate nodes between the child node and thedonor node and may configure the timer for the child node when the childnode attaches to it (this would be the case in architecture 2 a as shownin FIG. 8). Alternatively, the “parent node” may be the donor nodeitself and it is the donor node which may configure the timer for thechild node when the child node attaches to it (this would be the case inarchitecture 1 a as shown in FIG. 7). In either case, such a timerconfiguration may be indicated to the child node using Radio ResourceControl (RRC) signalling which indicates the timer value/length of thetimer, i.e. how much time is left before a BSR should be sent (for thefirst BSR to be sent after initialisation, it should be noted that theRRC signalling delay could be taken into account) and how much time isthis general BSR timer reset to after the first BSR is sent (for thefollowing BSRs to be sent). This timer may be called, for example,GeneralBSR-Timer. After the child node receives this signalling, thecorresponding timer will be started.

If the timer GeneralBSR-Timer expires, all of the IAB nodes will reporta BSR to their parent node. This may be a Long BSR, if more than onelogical channel group (LCG) has data available in a buffer at that IABnode for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to bebuilt. The Long BSR will then be reported for all LCGs which have dataavailable for transmission to the parent node. Alternatively, if thereis only one LCG with data available for transmission, the IAB node willreport a Short BSR to its parent node.

In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technique, wheremulti-connectivity is supported, it is up to the child node to dividethe current buffer status in order to report to all of its parent nodes.In other words, the child node is attached to one or more further parentnodes in addition to the one of the one or more other infrastructureequipment acting as the relay nodes or the donor node, and the childnode is configured to determine relative portions of the amount ofuplink data to report in BSRs transmitted to each of its parent nodes.In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technique, as shownabove in accordance with, for example, FIG. 6B, some parent nodes may beattached to more than one child node. In this case, such parent nodeswould have to receive BSRs from all child nodes, and provide uplinkgrants for each so that it can receive and aggregate data from all childnodes to relay upstream.

In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technique, additionalassistance information, for example allocated uplink grant to child nodeif any (to indicate how much data is going to be received at this node),node load status etc., can be included together with the BSR to be sentto the parent node or sent separately in addition to BSR. In otherwords, the signal comprising the BSR additionally comprises assistanceinformation for the parent node, and the parent node schedules thecommunications resources to the child node in accordance with the BSRand the assistance information. The assistance information may comprisean indication of an UL grant allocated by the child node to one of thecommunications devices or one of the infrastructure equipment, theindication of the UL grant indicating an amount of data the child nodeis going to receive from the one of the communications devices or theone of the infrastructure equipment. The assistance information maycomprise an indication of a current load status of the child node. Insome embodiments, it is not necessary that a general BSR timer isconfigured, although in other embodiments, the general BSR timer can bein configured in combination with these described arrangements. In anembodiment where such a general BSR timer is not configured, a wirelesscommunications network comprises a plurality of infrastructure equipmenteach being configured to communicate with one or more others of theinfrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, one or moreof the infrastructure equipment each being configured to communicatewith one or more communications devices via an access link, wherein asecond of the infrastructure equipment is configured to transmit, to afirst of the infrastructure equipment acting as a donor node connectedto a core network part of the wireless communications network, data viaone or more others of the infrastructure equipment acting as relaynodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child node and one ofthe one or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodesor the donor node being a parent node to which the child node isattached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplinkcommunications resources to the child node, wherein the parent node isconfigured to receive a signal comprising a BSR from the child nodeindicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has ready totransmit to the parent node, and to schedule, in accordance with the BSRreceived from the child node, communications resources of the backhaulcommunications link to the child node in which the child node is totransmit the uplink data, wherein the signal comprising the BSRadditionally comprises assistance information for the parent node, andthe parent node schedules the communications resources to the child nodein accordance with the BSR and the assistance information.

Following the transmission of the BSR from the child nodes to the parentnodes, each parent node will then adjust its uplink grant allocationsfor its child node(s) according to the received BSR from its childnodes.

In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technique, theindividual periodic timer in each IAB node (e.g. periodicBSR-Timer)which has the general BSR timer (e.g. GeneralBSR-Timer) can be set toinfinite in order to further save signalling costs. In other words, aperiodic BSR timer of each of the subset of the plurality ofinfrastructure equipment among which the general BSR timer is common andsynchronised is set to an infinite value.

In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technique, thegeneral BSR timer can be configured for high profile QoS UEs;effectively all IAB nodes on the route from its serving IAB node(gNodeB) to the IAB donor node. In other words, the subset of theplurality of infrastructure equipment among which the general BSR timeris common and synchronised is determined on the basis of the subset ofthe plurality of infrastructure equipment forming a communications pathbetween the donor node and one of the communications devices, the one ofthe communications devices having data to transmit requiring a highquality of service. Here, this subset of infrastructure equipment may bedetermined by the donor node, for example.

In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technique, thegeneral BSR timer can be configured for a certain IAB node groups(certain child-parent IAB nodes) according to, for example, the trafficload situation, or to single point nodes (one node with multiple linksto downstream nodes and with only link to upstream nodes). In otherwords, the subset of the plurality of infrastructure equipment amongwhich the general BSR timer is common and synchronised is determined onthe basis of being part of a group of the plurality of infrastructureequipment which satisfy a predetermined condition. This predeterminedcondition may be a traffic load at the infrastructure equipment in thegroup exceeds a threshold traffic load, and/or may be that theinfrastructure equipment in the group are attached to moreinfrastructure equipment in a downstream direction than an upstreamdirection. In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technique,the general BSR timer can be set with different values among differentnode groups. Here, this subset of infrastructure equipment which meetthe predetermined condition may be determined by the donor node, orparent node, for example.

In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technique, the BSRvalue can be inflated (upgraded) to a higher level than according to thereal buffer status. In other words, a buffer size value included withinthe BSR which indicates the amount of uplink data that the child nodehas ready to transmit to the parent node is inflated to a higher levelthan the real buffer size value of the child node.

TABLE I Buffer size levels (in bytes) for 5-bit Buffer Size field(reproduced from [9]) Index BS value 0 0 1 ≤10 2 ≤14 3 ≤20 4 ≤28 5 ≤38 6≤53 7 ≤74 8 ≤102 9 ≤142 10 ≤198 11 ≤276 12 ≤384 13 ≤535 14 ≤745 15 ≤103816 ≤1446 17 ≤2014 18 ≤2806 19 ≤3909 20 ≤5446 21 ≤7587 22 ≤10570 23≤14726 24 ≤20516 25 ≤28581 26 ≤39818 27 ≤55474 28 ≤77284 29 ≤107669 30≤150000 31 >150000

For example, looking at the table above, which is reproduced from [9],the buffer size value could be set to an index of 2 implying a buffersize of <=14 although the buffer size value is actually <=10.

In some arrangements, the BSR value may be inflated (upgraded) to ahigher level if it contains much high QoS profile data packets. In otherwords, the buffer size value is inflated based on the uplink datacomprising at least some data which requires a high quality of service.The amount of inflation of the BSR value is calculated by the child nodebased on the estimation of arrival of new data during the intervals ofBSR reporting which is not accounted for at the time of transmission ofBSR. This will allow the child and intermediate nodes to meet the uplinkQoS requirements and at the same time reduce buffering of data on theuplink. In some embodiments, it is not necessary that a general BSRtimer is configured, although in other embodiments, the general BSRtimer can be in configured in combination with these describedarrangements. In an embodiment where such a general BSR timer is notconfigured, a wireless communications network comprises a plurality ofinfrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate with oneor more others of the infrastructure equipment via a backhaulcommunications link, one or more of the infrastructure equipment eachbeing configured to communicate with one or more communications devicesvia an access link, wherein a second of the infrastructure equipment isconfigured to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipmentacting as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wirelesscommunications network, data via one or more others of theinfrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the secondinfrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one or moreother infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes or the donornode being a parent node to which the child node is attached, the parentnode being configured to allocate uplink communications resources to thechild node, wherein the parent node is configured to receive a signalcomprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount of uplink datathat the child node has ready to transmit to the parent node, and toschedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child node,communications resources of the backhaul communications link to thechild node in which the child node is to transmit the uplink data,wherein a buffer size value included within the BSR which indicates theamount of uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to theparent node is inflated to a higher level than the real buffer sizevalue of the child node.

In some arrangements of embodiments of the present technique, theactivation to send the BSRs from each of the IAB nodes can be triggeredby the transmission of physical layer signalling if all the IAB nodesare synchronised. In some embodiments, it is not necessary that ageneral BSR timer is configured, although in other embodiments, thegeneral BSR timer can be in configured in combination with thesedescribed arrangements In an embodiment where such a general BSR timeris not configured, a wireless communications network comprises aplurality of infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, wherein a second of theinfrastructure equipment is configured to transmit, to a first of theinfrastructure equipment acting as a donor node connected to a corenetwork part of the wireless communications network, data via one ormore others of the infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, thesecond infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one ormore other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes or thedonor node being a parent node to which the child node is attached, theparent node being configured to allocate uplink communications resourcesto the child node, wherein the parent node is configured to transmit asignalling message comprising an indication at least some of theplurality of infrastructure equipment should transmit a Buffer StatusReport, BSR, to receive, subsequent to the signalling message beingreceived by the child node, a signal comprising a BSR from the childnode indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has readyto transmit to the parent node, and to schedule, in accordance with theBSR received from the child node, communications resources of thebackhaul communications link to the child node in which the child nodeis to transmit the uplink data.

As described above, there are some proposals in [8] relating to pre-BSRreporting. Pre-BSR reporting is useful for delay-sensitive datatransmission. However, there may be some mixing of traffic for bothdelay-tolerant and delay-sensitive data. In an arrangement ofembodiments of the present technique, a new indicator is introduced toindicate whether a pre-BSR should be utilised if, for example,delay-tolerant data and delay-sensitive data are used for differentLCGs. In other words, each of the more or more infrastructure equipmentare configured to transmit, based on a received pre-BSR report maskingparameter, a pre-BSR to their parent nodes subsequent to receiving a BSRfrom their child nodes, the pre-BSR comprising an indication of a sum ofan amount of uplink data the each of the one or more of theinfrastructure equipment currently has to transmit and an amount ofuplink data reported by its child nodes and/or one or morecommunications devices served by it. If the received pre-BSR reportmasking parameter indicates that the one or more of the infrastructureequipment should not transmit a pre-BSR to their parent nodes subsequentto receiving a BSR from their child nodes, the method comprisestransmitting, by the one or more of the infrastructure equipment thepre-BSR subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer. Here, the pre-BSRreport masking parameter may be determined by the donor node, or theparent node of the each of the one or more infrastructure equipment, forexample, and may be transmitted as part of the signal containing thegeneral BSR timer or separately signalled.

One example way of implementing this pre-BSR report masking indicator(or pre-BSR enable/allow indicator) is to utilise a Boolean flag whichindicates whether the pre-BSR report should be send to the next hop nodeimmediately, or whether a BSR report should not be transmitted until theGeneralBSR-Timer has expired. If a bitmap is applied instead of theBoolean flag, more details of masking combinations/conditions can beconfigured. Another example way of implementing this new indicator isthat it could be a reuse of the existing Release 15 parameterlogicalChannelSR-Mask. However, this parameter is originally designedfor masking scheduling requests (SRs) rather than buffer status reports(BSRs), which is used when a scheduling request should be masked for anuplink semi-persistence scheduling (SPS) logical channel because thebase station has knowledge of when the uplink data is coming in case ofUL SPS. If both SR and BSR are able to be masked with the sameparameter, this could be reused. Otherwise, a separate and specificparameter should be used.

In some embodiments relating to the pre-BSR report masking indicator, itis not necessary that a general BSR timer is configured, although inother embodiments, the general BSR timer can be in configured incombination with these described arrangements. In an embodiment wheresuch a general BSR timer is not configured, a wireless communicationsnetwork comprising a plurality of infrastructure equipment each beingconfigured to communicate with one or more others of the infrastructureequipment via a backhaul communications link, one or more of theinfrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate with oneor more communications devices via an access link, wherein a second ofthe infrastructure equipment is configured to transmit, to a first ofthe infrastructure equipment acting as a donor node connected to a corenetwork part of the wireless communications network, data via one ormore others of the infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, thesecond infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one ormore other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes or thedonor node being a parent node to which the child node is attached, theparent node being configured to allocate uplink communications resourcesto the child node, wherein the parent node is configured to receive asignal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount ofuplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the parentnode, and to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from thechild node, communications resources of the backhaul communications linkto the child node in which the child node is to transmit the uplinkdata, and each of the one or more of the infrastructure equipment areconfigured to transmit, based on a received pre-BSR report maskingparameter, a pre-BSR to their parent nodes subsequent to receiving a BSRfrom their child nodes, the pre-BSR comprising an indication of a sum ofan amount of uplink data the each of the one or more of theinfrastructure equipment currently has to transmit and an amount ofuplink data reported by its child nodes and/or one or morecommunications devices served by it.

As described above, by way of FIG. 11 and the associated discussion, itis proposed in [7] that an IAB node can provide its scheduling timinginformation when it sends a BSR to its parent node, though this isinefficient in terms of increased signalling overheads and coordinationcomplexity. In an arrangement of embodiments of the present technique, acase is considered where the parent IAB node does not schedule an uplinkgrant for the child node to transmit uplink data immediately onreception of a BSR. Generally, a UE should send delay sensitive data assoon as it receives an uplink grant, and this should be rippled throughthe IAB network until the data reaches the core network, but there aresome possible reasons that it may be delayed. For example, the UE or oneof the IAB nodes may be in poor coverage conditions, where onetransmission takes a longer time due to, for example, repetitions or TTIbundling. Alternatively, it may be the case that the parent IAB node ishandling higher priority traffic than this child node has to transmit.In this case, the child node should not send a BSR immediately to itsparent node. The child node may hold off on the transmission of highpriority data until a certain condition has been met (e.g. amount oftransferred data or time), before it is allowed to send a BSR to itsparent node. The arrangement of pre-BSR report masking as discussedabove could be useful for this arrangement. Alternatively, the childnode does not have enough transmission power headroom to transmit dataon the uplink. In this case, it is not so easy to know when the uplinktransmission from the child node to the parent node is finished. Theparent node should wait for a good opportunity where there is enoughpower head room (PHR) available at the child node. The child node canthen transmit uplink data to the parent node when the requisitetransmission power is available.

In this arrangement therefore, an IAB node should indicate a status ofthere being little PHR at its child node to its parent node in additionto providing its own BSR. When the parent node of this IAB node receivesthis indicated status, the parent node will not allocate the resourcesfor the uplink transmission immediately, but will instead await theclearance of the PHR issue at the IAB node's child node. The IAB nodemay send the PHR status of its child node again when it is cleared.Then, parent node allocates the resources for the uplink transmission tothe IAB node. In other words, the signal comprising the BSR additionallycomprises a power headroom status of the child node. The parent node isconfigured to determine that the power headroom status of the child nodeis below a power headroom threshold status, and consequently to withholdtransmission of the scheduled communications resources of the backhaulcommunications link to the child node in which the child node is totransmit the uplink data while the power headroom status is below thepower headroom threshold status.

In some embodiments relating to the power headroom status, it is notnecessary that a general BSR timer is configured, although in otherembodiments, the general BSR timer can be in configured in combinationwith these described arrangements. In an embodiment where such a generalBSR timer is not configured, a wireless communications network comprisesa plurality of infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, wherein a second of theinfrastructure equipment is configured to transmit, to a first of theinfrastructure equipment acting as a donor node connected to a corenetwork part of the wireless communications network, data via one ormore others of the infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, thesecond infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one ormore other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes or thedonor node being a parent node to which the child node is attached, theparent node being configured to allocate uplink communications resourcesto the child node, wherein the parent node is configured to receive asignal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount ofuplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the parentnode, and to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from thechild node, communications resources of the backhaul communications linkto the child node in which the child node is to transmit the uplinkdata, wherein the signal comprising the BSR additionally comprises apower headroom status of the child node.

Flow Chart Representation

FIG. 13 shows a flow diagram illustrating a process of communications ina communications system in accordance with embodiments of the presenttechnique. The process shown by FIG. 13 is a method of controllingcommunications within a wireless communications network comprising aplurality of infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link.

The method begins in step S1301. The method comprises, in step S1302,configuring, by one of a first of the infrastructure equipment acting asa donor node connected to a core network part of the wirelesscommunications network and a parent node which is one the donor node andone of one or more others of the infrastructure equipment acting asrelay nodes, a general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timer for a child nodewhich is a second of the infrastructure equipment, the child node beingattached to the parent node the and the parent node being configured toallocate uplink communications resources to the child node, the generalBSR timer being common and synchronised among at least a subset of theplurality of infrastructure equipment. This configuration of the generalBSR timer may take place upon attachment of the child node to the parentnode, and may be followed by the parent node transmitting an indicationof the timer to the child node using RRC signalling for example. Theprocess then moves to step S1303, which comprises receiving, at theparent node, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a signalcomprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount of uplink datathat the child node has ready to transmit to the parent node. In stepS1304, the process comprises scheduling, by the parent node, inaccordance with the BSR received from the child node, communicationsresources of the backhaul communications link to the child node in whichthe child node is to transmit the uplink data. This allocation ofresources may then be signalled to the child node by the parent node inan uplink grant. The method then moves to step S1305, which comprisestransmitting, to the donor node, data (i.e. the uplink data in thescheduled communications resources of the backhaul communications link)by the child node via the parent node. The process ends in step S1306.

Those skilled in the art would appreciate that the method shown by FIG.13 may be adapted in accordance with embodiments of the presenttechnique. For example, other intermediate steps may be included in themethod, or the steps may be performed in any logical order.

Though embodiments of the present technique have been described largelyby way of the example system shown in FIG. 12, it would be clear tothose skilled in the art that they could be equally applied to othersystems, where for example there may be many more nodes or paths tochoose from, or more hops between the donor and end nodes.

Those skilled in the art would also appreciate that such infrastructureequipment and/or wireless communications networks as herein defined maybe further defined in accordance with the various arrangements andembodiments discussed in the preceding paragraphs. It would be furtherappreciated by those skilled in the art that such infrastructureequipment and wireless communications networks as herein defined anddescribed may form part of communications systems other than thosedefined by the present invention.

Those skilled in the art would further appreciate that, although someembodiments have been described and/or defined by way of an overallsystem apparatus or method comprising multiple different infrastructureequipment, such embodiments may be defined in relation to just one ofthe infrastructure equipment (e.g. donor node, child node, intermediateIAB parent node) of such an overall system.

The following numbered paragraphs provide further example aspects andfeatures of the present technique:

Paragraph 1. A method of controlling communications within a wirelesscommunications network comprising a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link,the method comprising

-   -   transmitting, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data by a second of the infrastructure        equipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment        acting as relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being        a child node and one of the one or more other infrastructure        equipment acting as the relay nodes or the donor node being a        parent node to which the child node is attached, the parent node        being configured to allocate uplink communications resources to        the child node, wherein the method comprises, in advance of the        transmitting the data by the child node to the donor node,    -   configuring, by one of the parent node and the donor node, a        general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timer for the child node, the        general BSR timer being common and synchronised among at least a        subset of the plurality of infrastructure equipment,    -   receiving, at the parent node, subsequent to expiry of the        general BSR timer, a signal comprising a BSR from the child node        indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has        ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   scheduling, by the parent node, in accordance with the BSR        received from the child node, communications resources of the        backhaul communications link to the child node in which the        child node is to transmit the uplink data.

Paragraph 2. A method according to Paragraph 1, wherein the general BSRtimer is configured by the parent node subsequent to the child nodeattaching to parent node and transmitted by the parent node to the childnode subsequent to being configured to by the parent node.

Paragraph 3. A method according to Paragraph 1 or Paragraph 2, whereinthe general BSR timer is configured by the parent node using RadioResource Control, RRC, signalling transmitted to the child node.

Paragraph 4. A method according to any of Paragraphs 1 to 3, wherein thegeneral BSR timer is common and synchronised among all of the pluralityof infrastructure equipment.

Paragraph 5. A method according to any of Paragraphs 1 to 4, wherein thesignal comprising the BSR additionally comprises assistance informationfor the parent node, and the parent node schedules the communicationsresources to the child node in accordance with the BSR and theassistance information.

Paragraph 6. A method according to Paragraph 5, wherein the assistanceinformation comprises an indication of an UL grant allocated by thechild node to one of the communications devices or one of theinfrastructure equipment, the indication of the UL grant indicating anamount of data the child node is going to receive from the one of thecommunications devices or the one of the infrastructure equipment.

Paragraph 7. A method according to Paragraph 5 or Paragraph 6, whereinthe assistance information comprises an indication of a current loadstatus of the child node.

Paragraph 8. A method according to any of Paragraphs 1 to 7, wherein theparent node is attached to one or more further child nodes in additionto the second infrastructure equipment.

Paragraph 9. A method according to any of Paragraphs 1 to 8, wherein thechild node is attached to one or more further parent nodes in additionto the one of the one or more other infrastructure equipment acting asthe relay nodes or the donor node, and the method comprises determining,by the child node, relative portions of the amount of uplink data toreport in BSRs transmitted to each of its parent nodes.

Paragraph 10. A method according to any of Paragraphs 1 to 9, wherein aperiodic BSR timer of each of the subset of the plurality ofinfrastructure equipment among which the general BSR timer is common andsynchronised is set to an infinite value.

Paragraph 11. A method according to any of Paragraphs 1 to 10, whereinthe subset of the plurality of infrastructure equipment among which thegeneral BSR timer is common and synchronised is determined on the basisof the subset of the plurality of infrastructure equipment forming acommunications path between the donor node and one of the communicationsdevices, the one of the communications devices having data to transmitrequiring a high quality of service.

Paragraph 12. A method according to any of Paragraphs 1 to 11, whereinthe subset of the plurality of infrastructure equipment among which thegeneral BSR timer is common and synchronised is determined on the basisof being part of a group of the plurality of infrastructure equipmentwhich satisfy a predetermined condition.

Paragraph 13. A method according to Paragraph 12, wherein thepredetermined condition is a traffic load at the infrastructureequipment in the group exceeds a threshold traffic load.

Paragraph 14. A method according to Paragraph 12 or Paragraph 12,wherein the predetermined condition is that the infrastructure equipmentin the group are attached to more infrastructure equipment in adownstream direction than an upstream direction.

Paragraph 15. A method according to any of Paragraphs 12 to 14, whereinthe general BSR timer is set to have different values among differentgroups of the plurality of infrastructure equipment.

Paragraph 16. A method according to any of Paragraphs 1 to 15, wherein abuffer size value included within the BSR which indicates the amount ofuplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the parent nodeis inflated to a higher level than the real buffer size value of thechild node.

Paragraph 17. A method according to Paragraph 16, wherein the buffersize value is inflated based on the uplink data comprising at least somedata which requires a high quality of service.

Paragraph 18. A method according to any of Paragraphs 1 to 17, themethod comprises transmitting, by each of one or more of theinfrastructure equipment, based on a received pre-BSR report maskingparameter, a pre-BSR to their parent nodes subsequent to receiving a BSRfrom their child nodes, the pre-BSR comprising an indication of a sum ofan amount of uplink data the each of the one or more of theinfrastructure equipment currently has to transmit and an amount ofuplink data reported by its child nodes and/or one or morecommunications devices served by it.

Paragraph 19. A method according to Paragraph 18, wherein if thereceived pre-BSR report masking parameter indicates that the one or moreof the infrastructure equipment should not transmit a pre-BSR to theirparent nodes subsequent to receiving a BSR from their child nodes, themethod comprises transmitting, by the one or more of the infrastructureequipment the pre-BSR subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer.

Paragraph 20. A method according to any of Paragraphs 1 to 19, whereinthe signal comprising the BSR additionally comprises a power headroomstatus of the child node.

Paragraph 21. A method according to Paragraph 20, comprising

-   -   determining, by the parent node, that the power headroom status        of the child node is below a power headroom threshold status,        and    -   withholding transmission of the scheduled communications        resources of the backhaul communications link to the child node        in which the child node is to transmit the uplink data while the        power headroom status is below the power headroom threshold        status.

Paragraph 22. A wireless communications network comprising a pluralityof infrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate withone or more others of the infrastructure equipment via a backhaulcommunications link, one or more of the infrastructure equipment eachbeing configured to communicate with one or more communications devicesvia an access link, wherein a second of the infrastructure equipment isconfigured

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein one of the        parent node or the donor node is configured, in advance of the        transmitting the data by the child node to the donor node,    -   to configure a general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timer for the        child node, the general BSR timer being common and synchronised        among at least a subset of the plurality of infrastructure        equipment, and wherein the parent node is configured    -   to receive, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a        signal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount        of uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data.

Paragraph 23. Circuitry for a wireless communications network comprisinga plurality of infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, wherein a second of theinfrastructure equipment is configured

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein one of the        parent node or the donor node is configured, in advance of the        transmitting the data by the child node to the donor node,    -   to configure a general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timer for the        child node, the general BSR timer being common and synchronised        among at least a subset of the plurality of infrastructure        equipment, and wherein the parent node is configured    -   to receive, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a        signal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount        of uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data.

Paragraph 24. A method of operating a first infrastructure equipmentforming part of a wireless communications network comprising a pluralityof other infrastructure equipment, the first infrastructure equipmentand the plurality of other infrastructure equipment each beingconfigured to communicate with one or more others of the infrastructureequipment via a backhaul communications link, one or more of theinfrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate with oneor more communications devices via an access link, wherein the first ofthe infrastructure equipment acts as a donor node connected to a corenetwork part of the wireless communications network, the methodcomprising

-   -   receiving data from a second of the infrastructure equipment via        one or more others of the infrastructure equipment acting as        relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child        node and one of the one or more other infrastructure equipment        acting as the relay nodes or the donor node being a parent node        to which the child node is attached, the parent node being        configured to allocate uplink communications resources to the        child node, wherein the method comprises, in advance of the        receiving the data from the child node,    -   configuring a Buffer Status Report, general BSR timer for the        child node, the general BSR timer being common and synchronised        among at least a subset of the plurality of infrastructure        equipment,    -   receiving, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a        signal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount        of uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node, and    -   scheduling, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data.

Paragraph 25. A first infrastructure equipment forming part of awireless communications network comprising a plurality of otherinfrastructure equipment, the first infrastructure equipment and theplurality of other infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, wherein the first of theinfrastructure equipment acts as a donor node connected to a corenetwork part of the wireless communications network and comprisestransceiver circuitry and controller circuitry configured in combination

-   -   to receive data from a second of the infrastructure equipment        via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment acting as        relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child        node and one of the one or more other infrastructure equipment        acting as the relay nodes or the donor node being a parent node        to which the child node is attached, the parent node being        configured to allocate uplink communications resources to the        child node, wherein the first infrastructure equipment is        configured, in advance of receiving the data from the child        node,    -   to configure a general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timer for the        child node, the general BSR timer being common and synchronised        among at least a subset of the plurality of infrastructure        equipment,    -   to receive, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a        signal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount        of uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data.

Paragraph 26. Circuitry for a first infrastructure equipment formingpart of a wireless communications network comprising a plurality ofother infrastructure equipment, the first infrastructure equipment andthe plurality of other infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, wherein the first of theinfrastructure equipment acts as a donor node connected to a corenetwork part of the wireless communications network and comprisestransceiver circuitry and controller circuitry configured in combination

-   -   to receive data from a second of the infrastructure equipment        via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment acting as        relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child        node and one of the one or more other infrastructure equipment        acting as the relay nodes or the donor node being a parent node        to which the child node is attached, the parent node being        configured to allocate uplink communications resources to the        child node, wherein the first infrastructure equipment is        configured, in advance of receiving the data from the child        node,    -   to configure a general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timer for the        child node, the general BSR timer being common and synchronised        among at least a subset of the plurality of infrastructure        equipment,    -   to receive, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a        signal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount        of uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data.

Paragraph 27. A method of operating an infrastructure equipment actingas a relay node forming part of a wireless communications networkcomprising a plurality of other infrastructure equipment, theinfrastructure equipment acting as the relay node and the plurality ofother infrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate withone or more others of the infrastructure equipment via a backhaulcommunications link, one or more of the infrastructure equipment eachbeing configured to communicate with one or more communications devicesvia an access link, the method comprising

-   -   relaying data from a second of the infrastructure equipment to a        first of the infrastructure equipment, the first infrastructure        equipment acting as a donor node connected to a core network        part of the wireless communications network, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the method        comprises, in advance of the relaying the data from the child        node to the donor node,    -   configuring a general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timer for the        child node, the general BSR timer being common and synchronised        among at least a subset of the plurality of infrastructure        equipment,    -   receiving, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a        signal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount        of uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node, and    -   scheduling, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data.

Paragraph 28. An infrastructure equipment acting as a relay node formingpart of a wireless communications network comprising a plurality ofother infrastructure equipment, the infrastructure equipment acting asthe relay node and the plurality of other infrastructure equipment eachbeing configured to communicate with one or more others of theinfrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, one or moreof the infrastructure equipment each being configured to communicatewith one or more communications devices via an access link, theinfrastructure equipment acting as the relay node comprising transceivercircuitry and controller circuitry configured in combination

-   -   relaying data from a second of the infrastructure equipment to a        first of the infrastructure equipment, the first infrastructure        equipment acting as a donor node connected to a core network        part of the wireless communications network, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the        infrastructure equipment acting as the relay node is configured,        in advance of the relaying the data from the child node to the        donor node,    -   configuring a general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timer for the        child node, the general BSR timer being common and synchronised        among at least a subset of the plurality of infrastructure        equipment,    -   receiving, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a        signal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount        of uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node, and    -   scheduling, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data.

Paragraph 29. Circuitry for an infrastructure equipment acting as arelay node forming part of a wireless communications network comprisinga plurality of other infrastructure equipment, the infrastructureequipment acting as the relay node and the plurality of otherinfrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate with oneor more others of the infrastructure equipment via a backhaulcommunications link, one or more of the infrastructure equipment eachbeing configured to communicate with one or more communications devicesvia an access link, the infrastructure equipment acting as the relaynode comprising transceiver circuitry and controller circuitryconfigured in combination

-   -   relaying data from a second of the infrastructure equipment to a        first of the infrastructure equipment, the first infrastructure        equipment acting as a donor node connected to a core network        part of the wireless communications network, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the        infrastructure equipment acting as the relay node is configured,        in advance of the relaying the data from the child node to the        donor node,    -   configuring a general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timer for the        child node, the general BSR timer being common and synchronised        among at least a subset of the plurality of infrastructure        equipment,    -   receiving, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a        signal comprising a BSR from the child node indicating an amount        of uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node, and    -   scheduling, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data.

Paragraph 30. A method of operating a second infrastructure equipmentforming part of a wireless communications network comprising a pluralityof other infrastructure equipment, the second infrastructure equipmentand the plurality of other infrastructure equipment each beingconfigured to communicate with one or more others of the infrastructureequipment via a backhaul communications link, one or more of theinfrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate with oneor more communications devices via an access link, the method comprising

-   -   transmitting, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the method        comprises, in advance of the transmitting the data to the donor        node,    -   receiving, from the parent node, a configured general Buffer        Status Report, BSR, timer, the general BSR timer being common        and synchronised among at least a subset of the plurality of        infrastructure equipment,    -   transmitting, to the parent node, subsequent to expiry of the        general BSR timer, a signal comprising a BSR indicating an        amount of uplink data that the second infrastructure equipment        has ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   receiving, from the parent node, in accordance with the BSR        transmitted by second infrastructure equipment, an indication of        scheduled communications resources of the backhaul        communications link in which the second infrastructure equipment        is to transmit the uplink data.

Paragraph 31. A second infrastructure equipment forming part of awireless communications network comprising a plurality of otherinfrastructure equipment, the second infrastructure equipment and theplurality of other infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, the second infrastructureequipment comprising transceiver circuitry and controller circuitryconfigured in combination

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the second        infrastructure equipment is configured, in advance of the        transmitting the data to the donor node,    -   to receive, from the parent node, a configured general Buffer        Status Report, BSR, timer, the general BSR timer being common        and synchronised among at least a subset of the plurality of        infrastructure equipment,    -   to transmit, to the parent node, subsequent to expiry of the        general BSR timer, a signal comprising a BSR indicating an        amount of uplink data that the second infrastructure equipment        has ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   to receive, from the parent node, in accordance with the BSR        transmitted by second infrastructure equipment, an indication of        scheduled communications resources of the backhaul        communications link in which the second infrastructure equipment        is to transmit the uplink data.

Paragraph 32. Circuitry for a second infrastructure equipment formingpart of a wireless communications network comprising a plurality ofother infrastructure equipment, the second infrastructure equipment andthe plurality of other infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, the second infrastructureequipment comprising transceiver circuitry and controller circuitryconfigured in combination

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the second        infrastructure equipment is configured, in advance of the        transmitting the data to the donor node,    -   to receive, from the parent node, a configured general Buffer        Status Report, BSR, timer, the general BSR timer being common        and synchronised among at least a subset of the plurality of        infrastructure equipment,    -   to transmit, to the parent node, subsequent to expiry of the        general BSR timer, a signal comprising a BSR indicating an        amount of uplink data that the second infrastructure equipment        has ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   to receive, from the parent node, in accordance with the BSR        transmitted by second infrastructure equipment, an indication of        scheduled communications resources of the backhaul        communications link in which the second infrastructure equipment        is to transmit the uplink data.

Paragraph 33. A method of controlling communications within a wirelesscommunications network comprising a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link,the method comprising

-   -   transmitting, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data by a second of the infrastructure        equipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment        acting as relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being        a child node and one of the one or more other infrastructure        equipment acting as the relay nodes or the donor node being a        parent node to which the child node is attached, the parent node        being configured to allocate uplink communications resources to        the child node, wherein the method comprises, in advance of the        transmitting the data by the child node to the donor node,    -   receiving, at the parent node, a signal comprising a Buffer        Status Report, BSR from the child node indicating an amount of        uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node, and    -   scheduling, by the parent node, in accordance with the BSR        received from the child node, communications resources of the        backhaul communications link to the child node in which the        child node is to transmit the uplink data, wherein the signal        comprising the BSR additionally comprises assistance information        for the parent node, and the parent node schedules the        communications resources to the child node in accordance with        the BSR and the assistance information.

Paragraph 34. A method according to Paragraph 33, wherein the assistanceinformation comprises an indication of an UL grant allocated by thechild node to one of the communications devices or one of theinfrastructure equipment, the indication of the UL grant indicating anamount of data the child node is going to receive from the one of thecommunications devices or the one of the infrastructure equipment.

Paragraph 35. A method according to Paragraph 33 or Paragraph 34,wherein the assistance information comprises an indication of a currentload status of the child node.

Paragraph 36. A method according to any of Paragraphs 33 to 35, whereinthe signal comprising the BSR additionally comprises a power headroomstatus of the child node.

Paragraph 37. A method according to Paragraph 36, comprising

-   -   determining, by the parent node, that the power headroom status        of the child node is below a power headroom threshold status,        and    -   withholding transmission of the scheduled communications        resources of the backhaul communications link to the child node        in which the child node is to transmit the uplink data while the        power headroom status is below the power headroom threshold        status.

Paragraph 38 A wireless communications network comprising a plurality ofinfrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate with oneor more others of the infrastructure equipment via a backhaulcommunications link, one or more of the infrastructure equipment eachbeing configured to communicate with one or more communications devicesvia an access link, wherein a second of the infrastructure equipment isconfigured

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the parent        node is configured    -   to receive a signal comprising a BSR from the child node        indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has        ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data, wherein the signal comprising the BSR        additionally comprises assistance information for the parent        node, and the parent node schedules the communications resources        to the child node in accordance with the BSR and the assistance        information.

Paragraph 39 Circuitry for a wireless communications network comprisinga plurality of infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, wherein a second of theinfrastructure equipment is configured

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the parent        node is configured    -   to receive a signal comprising a BSR from the child node        indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has        ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data, wherein the signal comprising the BSR        additionally comprises assistance information for the parent        node, and the parent node schedules the communications resources        to the child node in accordance with the BSR and the assistance        information.

Paragraph 40. A method of controlling communications within a wirelesscommunications network comprising a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link,the method comprising

-   -   transmitting, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data by a second of the infrastructure        equipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment        acting as relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being        a child node and one of the one or more other infrastructure        equipment acting as the relay nodes or the donor node being a        parent node to which the child node is attached, the parent node        being configured to allocate uplink communications resources to        the child node, wherein the method comprises, in advance of the        transmitting the data by the child node to the donor node,    -   receiving, at the parent node, a signal comprising a Buffer        Status Report, BSR from the child node indicating an amount of        uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node, and    -   scheduling, by the parent node, in accordance with the BSR        received from the child node, communications resources of the        backhaul communications link to the child node in which the        child node is to transmit the uplink data, wherein a buffer size        value included within the BSR which indicates the amount of        uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node is inflated to a higher level than the real buffer        size value of the child node.

Paragraph 41. A method according to Paragraph 40, wherein the buffersize value is inflated based on the uplink data comprising at least somedata which requires a high quality of service.

Paragraph 42 A wireless communications network comprising a plurality ofinfrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate with oneor more others of the infrastructure equipment via a backhaulcommunications link, one or more of the infrastructure equipment eachbeing configured to communicate with one or more communications devicesvia an access link, wherein a second of the infrastructure equipment isconfigured

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the parent        node is configured    -   to receive a signal comprising a BSR from the child node        indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has        ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data, wherein a buffer size value included within the        BSR which indicates the amount of uplink data that the child        node has ready to transmit to the parent node is inflated to a        higher level than the real buffer size value of the child node.

Paragraph 43 Circuitry for a wireless communications network comprisinga plurality of infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, wherein a second of theinfrastructure equipment is configured

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the parent        node is configured    -   to receive a signal comprising a BSR from the child node        indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has        ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data, wherein a buffer size value included within the        BSR which indicates the amount of uplink data that the child        node has ready to transmit to the parent node is inflated to a        higher level than the real buffer size value of the child node.

Paragraph 44. A method of controlling communications within a wirelesscommunications network comprising a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link,the method comprising

-   -   transmitting, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data by a second of the infrastructure        equipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment        acting as relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being        a child node and one of the one or more other infrastructure        equipment acting as the relay nodes or the donor node being a        parent node to which the child node is attached, the parent node        being configured to allocate uplink communications resources to        the child node, wherein the method comprises, in advance of the        transmitting the data by the child node to the donor node,    -   transmitting, by the parent node, a signalling message        comprising an indication at least some of the plurality of        infrastructure equipment should transmit a Buffer Status Report,        BSR,    -   receiving, at the parent node, subsequent to the signalling        message being received by the child node, a signal comprising a        BSR from the child node indicating an amount of uplink data that        the child node has ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   scheduling, by the parent node, in accordance with the BSR        received from the child node, communications resources of the        backhaul communications link to the child node in which the        child node is to transmit the uplink data.

Paragraph 45 A wireless communications network comprising a plurality ofinfrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate with oneor more others of the infrastructure equipment via a backhaulcommunications link, one or more of the infrastructure equipment eachbeing configured to communicate with one or more communications devicesvia an access link, wherein a second of the infrastructure equipment isconfigured

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the parent        node is configured    -   to transmit a signalling message comprising an indication at        least some of the plurality of infrastructure equipment should        transmit a Buffer Status Report, BSR,    -   to receive, subsequent to the signalling message being received        by the child node, a signal comprising a BSR from the child node        indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has        ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data.

Paragraph 46 Circuitry for a wireless communications network comprisinga plurality of infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, wherein a second of theinfrastructure equipment is configured

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the parent        node is configured    -   to transmit a signalling message comprising an indication at        least some of the plurality of infrastructure equipment should        transmit a Buffer Status Report, BSR,    -   to receive, subsequent to the signalling message being received        by the child node, a signal comprising a BSR from the child node        indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has        ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data.

Paragraph 47. A method of controlling communications within a wirelesscommunications network comprising a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link,the method comprising

-   -   transmitting, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data by a second of the infrastructure        equipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment        acting as relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being        a child node and one of the one or more other infrastructure        equipment acting as the relay nodes or the donor node being a        parent node to which the child node is attached, the parent node        being configured to allocate uplink communications resources to        the child node, wherein the method comprises, in advance of the        transmitting the data by the child node to the donor node,    -   receiving, at the parent node, a signal comprising a Buffer        Status Report, BSR from the child node indicating an amount of        uplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the        parent node,    -   scheduling, by the parent node, in accordance with the BSR        received from the child node, communications resources of the        backhaul communications link to the child node in which the        child node is to transmit the uplink data, and    -   transmitting, by each of one or more of the infrastructure        equipment, based on a received pre-BSR report masking parameter,        a pre-BSR to their parent nodes subsequent to receiving a BSR        from their child nodes, the pre-BSR comprising an indication of        a sum of an amount of uplink data the each of the one or more of        the infrastructure equipment currently has to transmit and an        amount of uplink data reported by its child nodes and/or one or        more communications devices served by it.

Paragraph 48 A wireless communications network comprising a plurality ofinfrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate with oneor more others of the infrastructure equipment via a backhaulcommunications link, one or more of the infrastructure equipment eachbeing configured to communicate with one or more communications devicesvia an access link, wherein a second of the infrastructure equipment isconfigured

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the parent        node is configured    -   to receive a signal comprising a BSR from the child node        indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has        ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data, and each of the one or more of the        infrastructure equipment are configured    -   to transmit, based on a received pre-BSR report masking        parameter, a pre-BSR to their parent nodes subsequent to        receiving a BSR from their child nodes, the pre-BSR comprising        an indication of a sum of an amount of uplink data the each of        the one or more of the infrastructure equipment currently has to        transmit and an amount of uplink data reported by its child        nodes and/or one or more communications devices served by it.

Paragraph 49 Circuitry for a wireless communications network comprisinga plurality of infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, wherein a second of theinfrastructure equipment is configured

-   -   to transmit, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting        as a donor node connected to a core network part of the wireless        communications network, data via one or more others of the        infrastructure equipment acting as relay nodes, the second        infrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one        or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes        or the donor node being a parent node to which the child node is        attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplink        communications resources to the child node, wherein the parent        node is configured    -   to receive a signal comprising a BSR from the child node        indicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has        ready to transmit to the parent node, and    -   to schedule, in accordance with the BSR received from the child        node, communications resources of the backhaul communications        link to the child node in which the child node is to transmit        the uplink data, and each of the one or more of the        infrastructure equipment are configured    -   to transmit, based on a received pre-BSR report masking        parameter, a pre-BSR to their parent nodes subsequent to        receiving a BSR from their child nodes, the pre-BSR comprising        an indication of a sum of an amount of uplink data the each of        the one or more of the infrastructure equipment currently has to        transmit and an amount of uplink data reported by its child        nodes and/or one or more communications devices served by it.

It will be appreciated that the above description for clarity hasdescribed embodiments with reference to different functional units,circuitry and/or processors. However, it will be apparent that anysuitable distribution of functionality between different functionalunits, circuitry and/or processors may be used without detracting fromthe embodiments.

Described embodiments may be implemented in any suitable form includinghardware, software, firmware or any combination of these. Describedembodiments may optionally be implemented at least partly as computersoftware running on one or more data processors and/or digital signalprocessors. The elements and components of any embodiment may bephysically, functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way.Indeed the functionality may be implemented in a single unit, in aplurality of units or as part of other functional units. As such, thedisclosed embodiments may be implemented in a single unit or may bephysically and functionally distributed between different units,circuitry and/or processors.

Although the present disclosure has been described in connection withsome embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific formset forth herein. Additionally, although a feature may appear to bedescribed in connection with particular embodiments, one skilled in theart would recognise that various features of the described embodimentsmay be combined in any manner suitable to implement the technique.

REFERENCES

[1] Holma H. and Toskala A, “LTE for UMTS OFDMA and SC-FDMA based radioaccess”, John Wiley and Sons, 2009.

[2] RP-161901, “Revised work item proposal: Enhancements of NB-IoT”,Huawei, HiSilicon, 3GPP TSG RAN Meeting #73, New Orleans, USA, Sep.19-22, 2016.

[3] RP-170831, “New SID Proposal: Study on Integrated Access andBackhaul for NR”, AT&T, 3GPP RAN Meeting #75, Dubrovnik, Croatia, March2017.

[4] 3GPP TR 38.874, “3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project; TechnicalSpecification Group Radio Access Network; Study on Integrated Access andBackhaul; (Release 15)”, 3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project, February2018.

[5] R2-1801606, “Proposals on IAB Architecture”, Qualcomm et al, 3GPPTSG-RAN WG2 NR Ad hoc 1801, Vancouver, Canada, Jan. 22-26, 2018.

[6] R3-181502, “Way Forward—IAB Architecture for L2/3 relaying”,Qualcomm et al, 3GPP TSG-RAN WG3 Meeting #99, Athens, Greece, February26-March 2, 2018.

[7] R2-1812638, “Scheduling Enhancement in IAB”, LG Electronics Inc.,3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #103, Gothenburg, Sweden, Aug. 20-24, 2018.

[8] R2-1812881, “Pre-BSR Enabling Fast Scheduling”, Huawei, HiSilicon,3GPP TSG-RAN WG2 Meeting #103, Gothenburg, Sweden, Aug. 20-24, 2018.

[9] 3GPP TS 38.321, “3^(rd) Generation Partnership Project; TechnicalSpecification Group Radio Access Network; NR; Medium Access Control(MAC) protocol specification (Release 15)”, 3^(rd) Generation ProjectPartnership, June 2018.

1. A method of controlling communications within a wirelesscommunications network comprising a plurality of infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or more othersof the infrastructure equipment via a backhaul communications link, oneor more of the infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more communications devices via an access link,the method comprising transmitting, to a first of the infrastructureequipment acting as a donor node connected to a core network part of thewireless communications network, data by a second of the infrastructureequipment via one or more others of the infrastructure equipment actingas relay nodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child nodeand one of the one or more other infrastructure equipment acting as therelay nodes or the donor node being a parent node to which the childnode is attached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplinkcommunications resources to the child node, wherein the methodcomprises, in advance of the transmitting the data by the child node tothe donor node, configuring, by one of the parent node and the donornode, a general Buffer Status Report, BSR, timer for the child node, thegeneral BSR timer being common and synchronised among at least a subsetof the plurality of infrastructure equipment, receiving, at the parentnode, subsequent to expiry of the general BSR timer, a signal comprisinga BSR from the child node indicating an amount of uplink data that thechild node has ready to transmit to the parent node, and scheduling, bythe parent node, in accordance with the BSR received from the childnode, communications resources of the backhaul communications link tothe child node in which the child node is to transmit the uplink data.2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the general BSR timer isconfigured by the parent node subsequent to the child node attaching toparent node and transmitted by the parent node to the child nodesubsequent to being configured to by the parent node.
 3. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein the general BSR timer is configured by theparent node using Radio Resource Control, RRC, signalling transmitted tothe child node.
 4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the generalBSR timer is common and synchronised among all of the plurality ofinfrastructure equipment.
 5. A method according to claim 1, wherein thesignal comprising the BSR additionally comprises assistance informationfor the parent node, and the parent node schedules the communicationsresources to the child node in accordance with the BSR and theassistance information.
 6. A method according to claim 5, wherein theassistance information comprises an indication of an UL grant allocatedby the child node to one of the communications devices or one of theinfrastructure equipment, the indication of the UL grant indicating anamount of data the child node is going to receive from the one of thecommunications devices or the one of the infrastructure equipment.
 7. Amethod according to claim 5, wherein the assistance informationcomprises an indication of a current load status of the child node.
 8. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the parent node is attached to oneor more further child nodes in addition to the second infrastructureequipment.
 9. A method according to claim 1, wherein the child node isattached to one or more further parent nodes in addition to the one ofthe one or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodesor the donor node, and the method comprises determining, by the childnode, relative portions of the amount of uplink data to report in BSRstransmitted to each of its parent nodes.
 10. A method according to claim1, wherein a periodic BSR timer of each of the subset of the pluralityof infrastructure equipment among which the general BSR timer is commonand synchronised is set to an infinite value.
 11. A method according toclaim 1, wherein the subset of the plurality of infrastructure equipmentamong which the general BSR timer is common and synchronised isdetermined on the basis of the subset of the plurality of infrastructureequipment forming a communications path between the donor node and oneof the communications devices, the one of the communications deviceshaving data to transmit requiring a high quality of service.
 12. Amethod according to claim 1, wherein the subset of the plurality ofinfrastructure equipment among which the general BSR timer is common andsynchronised is determined on the basis of being part of a group of theplurality of infrastructure equipment which satisfy a predeterminedcondition.
 13. A method according to claim 12, wherein the predeterminedcondition is a traffic load at the infrastructure equipment in the groupexceeds a threshold traffic load.
 14. A method according to claim 12,wherein the predetermined condition is that the infrastructure equipmentin the group are attached to more infrastructure equipment in adownstream direction than an upstream direction.
 15. A method accordingto claim 12, wherein the general BSR timer is set to have differentvalues among different groups of the plurality of infrastructureequipment.
 16. A method according to claim 1, wherein a buffer sizevalue included within the BSR which indicates the amount of uplink datathat the child node has ready to transmit to the parent node is inflatedto a higher level than the real buffer size value of the child node. 17.(canceled)
 18. A method according to claim 1, the method comprisestransmitting, by each of one or more of the infrastructure equipment,based on a received pre-BSR report masking parameter, a pre-BSR to theirparent nodes subsequent to receiving a BSR from their child nodes, thepre-BSR comprising an indication of a sum of an amount of uplink datathe each of the one or more of the infrastructure equipment currentlyhas to transmit and an amount of uplink data reported by its child nodesand/or one or more communications devices served by it.
 19. (canceled)20. A method according to claim 1, wherein the signal comprising the BSRadditionally comprises a power headroom status of the child node.21.-26. (canceled)
 27. A method of operating an infrastructure equipmentacting as a relay node forming part of a wireless communications networkcomprising a plurality of other infrastructure equipment, theinfrastructure equipment acting as the relay node and the plurality ofother infrastructure equipment each being configured to communicate withone or more others of the infrastructure equipment via a backhaulcommunications link, one or more of the infrastructure equipment eachbeing configured to communicate with one or more communications devicesvia an access link, the method comprising relaying data from a second ofthe infrastructure equipment to a first of the infrastructure equipment,the first infrastructure equipment acting as a donor node connected to acore network part of the wireless communications network, the secondinfrastructure equipment being a child node and one of the one or moreother infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodes or the donornode being a parent node to which the child node is attached, the parentnode being configured to allocate uplink communications resources to thechild node, wherein the method comprises, in advance of the relaying thedata from the child node to the donor node, configuring a general BufferStatus Report, BSR, timer for the child node, the general BSR timerbeing common and synchronised among at least a subset of the pluralityof infrastructure equipment, receiving, subsequent to expiry of thegeneral BSR timer, a signal comprising a BSR from the child nodeindicating an amount of uplink data that the child node has ready totransmit to the parent node, and scheduling, in accordance with the BSRreceived from the child node, communications resources of the backhaulcommunications link to the child node in which the child node is totransmit the uplink data. 28.-32. (canceled)
 33. A method of controllingcommunications within a wireless communications network comprising aplurality of infrastructure equipment each being configured tocommunicate with one or more others of the infrastructure equipment viaa backhaul communications link, one or more of the infrastructureequipment each being configured to communicate with one or morecommunications devices via an access link, the method comprisingtransmitting, to a first of the infrastructure equipment acting as adonor node connected to a core network part of the wirelesscommunications network, data by a second of the infrastructure equipmentvia one or more others of the infrastructure equipment acting as relaynodes, the second infrastructure equipment being a child node and one ofthe one or more other infrastructure equipment acting as the relay nodesor the donor node being a parent node to which the child node isattached, the parent node being configured to allocate uplinkcommunications resources to the child node, wherein the methodcomprises, in advance of the transmitting the data by the child node tothe donor node, receiving, at the parent node, a signal comprising aBuffer Status Report, BSR from the child node indicating an amount ofuplink data that the child node has ready to transmit to the parentnode, and scheduling, by the parent node, in accordance with the BSRreceived from the child node, communications resources of the backhaulcommunications link to the child node in which the child node is totransmit the uplink data, wherein the signal comprising the BSRadditionally comprises assistance information for the parent node, andthe parent node schedules the communications resources to the child nodein accordance with the BSR and the assistance information. 34.-49.(canceled)